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DISCOLMISE 

DKLIVERKI) ON JHK 

Two HuxDRi-DTii Anniversary 

OF 

Tllli ORGANIZATION 

OF THE 

OLD LYMH 

Congregational Cliurcli, 

1693 1893. 



!V THE PASTOR 



Rkv. ARTHLR SHIRLEY 



LYME, CONN.: 

GEORGE A. SMITH, STEAM PRINT. 

1893. 






Bj transfer 

NOV 8 19)5 



DISCOURSK. 



The people of the United States are celebrating this year the 
400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. 
The deepest significance and the highest value of that discovery 
are revealed by such events as that of which we celebrate to-day 
the 200th anniversary. Midway between the lonely landing of 
the three caravels of pale-faces among the hosts of bronzed na- 
tives and the present prevalence of Christian civilization over the 
continent, is the era of English colonization ; when the wigwam 
began to retreat before the school house, and psalm singing to 
supplant the war whoop. The earlier half of the 400 years since 
the landing of Columbus is a period of tentative explorations and 
plundering adventures, which made little deep or permanent im- 
pression upon the Western continent. But the second half of 
these 400 years has witnessed such a renovation of this so-called 
New World as has never been equalled in the history of mankind. 
There is a natural and proper satisfaction in being connected 
with an institution which took root in this virgin soil in the day of 
origins, and in reviewing the beginning and progress of its life 
and influence. When one tries to imagine what this town would 
have become, had it lacked the unfailing proclamation of the 
blessed gospel; what our nation would have become, had the 
church bells been silent these 200 years; he gains a fresh and 
broader idea of what our Saviour meant when he said to his dis- 
ciples—" Ye are the salt of the earth." And, as he traces out the 
unfolding and spreading of the kingdom of God, he may well be 
inspired to a more earnest and whole-hearted devotion to that 
which is of highest present interest, and of eternal importance. 

The history of this Old Lyme Congregational Church has al- 
ready been given in outline. Rev. Wm. B. Cary, who was about 
to be installed as pastor of this church, delivered July 9, 1876 a 
" Memorial Discourse" which embodies the main facts in a very 
satisfactory form; it contains what is known concerning the three 



successive meeting-houses on the brow of Meeting-House Hill, 
and the essential items concerning this edifice from its dedication 
in 1817 to the date of the discourse; it has also judicious sketches 
of the pastors who have entered the church triumphant;* and it 
gives interesting facts and figures concerning the numbers and 
the customs of the members of the church, f That discourse has 
been printed in a neat pamphlet, which has been widely distribu- 
ted through the town, and has also been bound into a "History 
of New London County." The labor represented by that dis- 
course does not need to be performed again; I would exhort 
those of you who possess copies of it to preserve them with care, 
as they will have a permanent and increasing value. 

The task which it has seemed wise for me to undertake for the 
present occasion has been to endeavor to elucidate some points 
that have been left in obscurity, to open up some features of the 
inner life of the church in their relation to contemporaneous his- 
tory, and to set forth a few supplementary facts in regard to the 
present situation. 

I. The first question which I found myself asking — and 
which 1 will now attempt to answer — is. What was the relation of 
the first settlers to the Indians? Did the Rev. Moses Noyes and 
the flock that gathered about him in 1666 find themselves in the 
midst of fierce and treacherous and bloodthirsty tribes? Did 
they walk through the solemn old forests in constant fear of the 
tomahawk, and harvest their corn with a gun in one hand, and 
dream each night of being burnt alive in their homes by lurking 
foes? Or did they dwell in peace with their neighbors? Did 
they even do missionary work where it is often most difficult to 
do it, right at home, and gather some of the red Indians into the 
fold? Have there ever been Indians in the membership of this 
church? Happily we are able to give confident answers to these 
questions through the narrative of John Mason — the Miles Stan- 
dish of Connecticut — and the testimony of other contemporaneous 
witnesses. 

The dominant tribe of this region was the Pequots,J who are 

♦For fuller sketches of the ministers see MSS. prepared by Mrs. Brainard; also, especially 
in case of Rev. Stephen Johnson, the elegant volumes of " Family-Histories and Genealogies" 
prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury. 

+ F"or statistics of ministers, members and benevolences of the church; also for ministers who 
were natives of Lyme, see MSS. of Rev. Wm. H. Moore. 

:|: See DeForest's History of the Indians of Connecticut, pp. 58-62. 



thought to have been an offshoot of the Mohawks of the Hudson; 
they were found to be the ruHng power from the Connecticut 
River to the Narragansetts, the leading tribe in Rhode Island. 
These Pequots were among the boldest and fiercest tribes ever 
encountered, and were led by a powerful and crafty sachem 
named Sassacus. The earliest English settlers made an unfor- 
tunate beginning in their first intercourse with these Pequots. 
When the Dutch from New Amsterdam (N. Y.) sailed up the 
Connecticut River and built their little fort oi " Cood Hope" at 
Dutch Point in Hartford, they purchased their land of the 
Pe(}uots. 

Ikit when the Englishmen from Massachusetts, following hard 
upon the heels of the Dutchmen, made a new bargain for the 
same territory, they negotiated with the original River Indians and 
ignored the Pequots.* For a little time it looked as though 
there would be war between the Dutch and the Pequots on one 
side and the English with the River Indians on the other. But 
the Dutch, after making some threats and demonstrations, suc- 
cumbed peacefully both at Hartford and at Saybrook. Not so, 
however, with their irritated allies, the savage Pequots; who as- 
sailed the English settlers with all the traditional horrors of In- 
dian warfare. Saybrook Point was protected by a fort and by a 
palisade of twelve-foot-high tree trunks across the neck; and du- 
ring the winter of 1636-7 the Pequots kept it practically under 
siege. White men who strayed away were suddenly pounced up- 
on by lurking foes and put to death with fiendish tortures. Boats 
upon the River or the Sound were under espionage, and their oc- 
cupants were liable to feel the whizzing arrow, or — if they landed, 
the deadly tomahawk. The Massachusetts authorities had some 
negotiations with the Pequots, and undertook to enforce certain 
demands by sending an army of 90 men under Captain Endicott, 
who landed on Block Island, and afterward near the spot where 
New London now stands. But they did more damage to the 
wigwams and the corn crops than to the warriors, and then sailed 
back to Massachusetts, leaving the Pequots in the condition of a 
nest of hornets that have been not seriously injured but tremen- 
dously stirred up. It became so hot for the colonists on the 
C:onnecticut that the only way to save themselves from gradual 

, * l)e Forest, p. 76. 



tlestruction was judged to be a direct assault upon the very nest 
of the hornets. Accordingly they got together at Saybrook Fort 
a little army of 90 men to finish the work which had been so 
bunglingly begun by the army of the same size from Massachu- 
setts. They were aided by a little band of Mohegans under Un- 
cas, who is thought to have been of royal Pequot blood, but who 
had been banished from his native tribe and became a firm and 
valuable ally of the English and a great personal friend of Capt. 
Mason. The little army sailed to the country of the Narragan- 
setts, that they might attack the two strong forts of the Pequots 
from the rear at an unexpected moment. Encamping at night 
near Porter's Rocks — two miles from Mystic Head, in Stoning- 
ton — they made an assault at daybreak upon the strongest of the 
two palisaded camps. Capt. Mason forcing one of the tortuous 
entrances and Capt. Underbill the other. The Indians were ta- 
ken completely by surprise, but resisted bravely and effectively 
until their bark-covered wigwams were set on fire; then most of 
them, men, women and children perished miserably in the black 
smoke and the rolling flames, while only about half a dozen of 
those who escaped from the palisade fought their way through 
the besiegers and lived to tell the tale. This was the death blow 
to the Pequots. The occupants of the second fort were followed 
up at a later time and the tribe was practically exterminated. 
This was in 1637. Connecticut then laid claim to this shore by 
right of conquest;* and Uncas, who had become the ruling power 
among the Indians, made no objection to the claim. A small 
tribe of Indians, known as the "Western Nehantics," seem to have 
hunted and fished and planted their patches of corn and beans 
from the Connecticut to the Thames; and it was this compara- 
tively feeble and peaceable tribe with which the founders of this 
town were brought into most intimate contact. The only recorded 
event resembling a fight with these Nehantics occurred during 
the overland march of Capt. Mason from the Pequot fort back to 
Saybrook. f "On their march they came upon a village belonging 
to the Western Nehantics, the inhabitants of which fled at their 
approach and took refuge in a swamp. The English pushed in af- 
ter them, drove them out on the opposite side, and chased them 

* DeForest, pp. 381-2, and cf. p. 161. See also Bancroft's History of the U. S., Vol. 11. p. 98. 
+ DeF,.rest, 137. 



ainong the low hills a considerable distance. Tkit, finding that 
the Indians dispersed all over the country, they gave up the pur- 
suit, and, drawing together again, continued their march." If 
this took place, as DeForest represents it, on the same day with 
the fight at the Pequot fort, and Mason reached the mouth of the 
Connecticut and was saluted with discharges of cannon from the 
Saybrook fort, "towards the evening," we may with some confi- 
dence, locate it in Lyme. It was indicative of the unwarlike 
habits of the Nehantics. When, then, some thirty years later, 
Lyme was getting settled, the whites found hardly a trace of the 
fierce Pequots; the Nehantics were indisposed to fight;* and Un- 
cas, the only powerful .sachem in the vicinity, was a firm and con- 
stant friend' of the whites. We are not, therefore, surprised to 
find that, as a matter of fact, the intercourse of the first settlers 
with the Indians in Lyme was wholly of a peaceful nature, rela- 
ting to fox-skins and wampum rather than to tomahawks and bul- 
lets. There is not a tradition in the town of any serious trouble 
with the Indians at any time, nor even of a block-house or a 
stockade. Very probably some slight precautions were taken at 
first; the minister's house may have been constructed, as tradition 
affirms, with the little windows so high as to make it painfully in- 
convenient for Indians to inspect domestic operations, and with the 
doors well studded with spikes; a sentinel may have been posted 
during service in the log-hut meeting-house on the hill: and the 
sight of a redskin coming across the clearing may have quickened 
the pulse-beat of the women. But the Rev. Moses Noyes soon 
found that his handsome cane was a sufificient protection as he 
tramped from his farm on the Street over the hill to his farm at 
Swan's Point; and the women learned to exchange their beads or 
pine-tree shillings for Indian baskets with as much equanimity as 
some women who are living here to-day have felt in trading with 
the present-day descendants of the old Nehantics. 

It appears from the Colonial Records "that, in 1672, the Ne- 
hantics had no land of their own, and were then furnished with 
300 acres by Lyme, on condition of bringing in a wolf's head 
annually." — The memory and location of this reservation are still 
preserved in the name of " Indian Woods." Evidently the 
whites had the mastery from the beginning. And this does not 

*Cf. also, DeForest, p. m. 



seem so strange, when we remember that, in 1675 there were 
some 55,000 whites in New England to perhaps 30,000 Indians. 
Even the terrible King Philip's War, which broke out in that year 
and which desolated so many settlements, brought no disturbance 
to this peaceful shore.* 

The Nehantics were not content, as no Indians ever have been, 
to remain on their reservation, but roamed widely about and ren- 
dered varied service to the whites. 

That missionary work was done among them is demonstrated 
by the fact that the names of two Indians stand upon our church 
roll, both received in 1741, a woman named Hannah Jeffrey, 
and a man bearing the single name of Nehemiah ; while the Rev. 
Geo. Griswold received into the church in East Lyme 13 Niantic 
Indians, f The pastor of this church at that time was the Rev. 
Jonathan Parsons, whom Dr. G. L. Walker speaks of as "one 
of the most useful and able of Connecticut's ministers in the era 
of the Great Awakening. "| Through the kindness of a liberal 
friend of this church, an excellent and authentic portrait of Mr. 
Parsons adorns our Conference Room. Mr. Parsons was quite 
carried away with Whitefield, whose methods he heartily ap- 
proved, and in whose labors he zealously co-operated. A Pres- 
byterian Church, which was organized under the influence of 
Whitefield's preaching at Newburyport, called Mr. Parsons away 
from Lyme; and under the pulpit of that church the two preach- 
ers were buried. How highly Mr. Parsons esteemed the great 
evangelist, and how impatiently he bore the numerous criticisms 
of his methods, may be clearly seen from a Thursday lecture, 
preached in Boston, Sept. 16, 1742— a copy of which has been 
handed to me, printed in the same year in which it was preached, 
"at The Bible and Dove in Fish St." The text is " But wis- 
dom is justified of her children;" and the aim is to hold up the 
opponents of Whitefield as destitute of true wisdom and unwor- 
thy of the countenance of Christian people. But Mr. Parsons, 
while he was intensely zealous for Whitefield, remembered also 
the Indians, and joined Mr. (iriswold of East Lyme in efforts to 
secure consideration for them from the (ieneral Court, as well as 
in personal labors for their spiritual good. These labors, however, 



*Cf. Bancroft's United States, Vol. 1, p. 402. +" New London County," p. 562. 
ifAnniv. of First fh., Hartford, p. 80. 



like those of Mr. Fitch, (Irst pastor of the cluireh in Norwich, 
seem to have born Httle satisfactory or permanent fruit; and, 
with but a feeble hold upon the glorious hope of the Gospel, 
the Indians of Connecticut have disappeared from the land of 
their fathers. One little company of the Mohegan followers of 
Uncas still own a reservation in Montville; and this Mohegan 
church is regularly reported in the Connecticut Minutes; the last 
report gives one male and teii female members; and the vanish- 
ing-point of the church and of the tribe seems not far distant. 

II. Another question that has been often asked, but never yet 
satisfactorily answered is this; Why did the minister and his people, 
coming to Lyme in 1666, wait until 1693 before organizing a 
church? Some 27 years appear to have thus elapsed before their 
minister was duly ordained, and the sacraments duly adminis- 
tered. Here, for almost an entire generation, they were waiting 
in the wilderness. What was the hindrance? I shall lay before 
you certain facts and then carry you with me, I hope, to the nat- 
ural inference. 

In the spring of 1660 a plan, which had been for some time 
under consideration, was carried into execution;* a company, 
which embraced the principal part of the church and the congre- 
V gation at Saybrook, including the pastor. Rev. James Fitch, the 
K^mous military leader, now "Major" Mason, and other impor- 
tant personages, left Saybrook, and going to a tract of land nine 
miles square, deeded to them by Uncas at the headw^aters of 
the Pequot river, founded the town and the church of Norwich. 
Bear in mind in how weak and discouraged a state this must have 
left the Saybrook church. 

Then the church is still further depleted by the departure of 
members of the flock to the settlement known at first as Ea.st Say- 
brook, just across the river. These members might naturally be 
expected to stand by the old church, paying their taxes toward 
its support and crossing the river to attend its services. 

But in May, 1667* the Court of Election at Hartford orders 
that the plantation on the east side of the river, over against Say- 
brook, be for the future named Lyme. They have broken away 
from the old name. A Harvard graduate has come to preach 



♦ " Hollister's History of Conn.," Vol. I, p. 200. Also, " History of Norwich," pp. 53 flf. 
•I- Col. Records. 



lO 

among them, and he is naturally desirous of being ordained as 
soon as may be, so as to have a standing in the ministry and a 
right to administer the sacraments. The next year, accordingly, 
their petition for the privilege of organizing a distinct church 
comes before the Cieneral Court. Let it not be forgotten that, 
although the church was not organized until 1693, the Town 
Records show that a vote in favor of such an organization was 
passed Feb. 13, 1676. Upon this request the General Court 
took action Oct. 1678, as follows: "Upon the motion of the dep- 
uties of Lyme, in behalf of Mr. Noyce and other Christian peo- 
ple, that this Court would grant them their liberty and counten- 
ance to gather into church society — This court, having consid- 
ered the same, are willing to countenance them in their regular 
proceedings therein, and doe grant them their approbation and 
encouragement in so good a work, provided they doe take the 
approbation of neighbor churches therein, and attend the lawes 
of this colony." Here, then, the minister is ready ; the people 
are ready; the General Court is disposed to encourage them in so 
good a work; the only thing lacking is "the approbation of 
neighbor churches therein." 

Is not the inference obvious, that the neighbor church at Say- 
brook felt too weak to stand alone, and desired the inhabitants of 
what had once been East Saybrook to continue their help in the 
support of the Saybrook church? This inference is strengthened 
when we read in the Colonial Records that the petition of the in- 
habitants of the northern part of Lyme to be set off as a distinct 
society, in 1724, was granted on the condition "that the inhabit- 
ants of the North society should pay their proportion in common 
with the old or Western society in Lyme towards the maintenance 
of the Rev. Mr. Noyes during his natural life, and until they 
have an orthodox minister among themselves." 

Li all probability, then, the enfeebled Saybrook church was the 
standing obstruction. Very likely, too, some of the people here 
clung with affection to the mother-church and preferred to cross 
the river rather than climb the hill, for the Sabbath service. The 
first Matthew Griswold presented to the Saybrook church a silver 
communion-cup, marked with his initials, which is still in exis- 
tence. * Now the Rev. Moses Noyes believed in what is sometimes 

*See the Salisbury " Family Histories and Genealogies," Yp'i: II, p. 20. 



called the strong; form of church government; he assisted, 
and his brother James from Stonington presided, at the Synod 
which issued the Sayhrook Platform in 1708 — a Platform which 
advocated a semi-Presbyterian method of procedure. He would 
therefore have no inclination to proceed to the organization of a 
church, in independence of neighbor churches or of the Cieneral 
Court. So he waits some 27 years, directing the labors of the 
negro slaves upon his farms and performing such ministerial la- 
bors as the situation allows, until the obstacle is removed, and on 
some unknown day in 1693 the church is organized and the pas- 
tor ordained, and the full tide of church-life begins to flow. 

An historical survey of the development of ideas in the inte- 
rior life of the church would have great interest for many of us; 
but the limits of time lead me to sum up this portion of our re- 
view under the head of Four (ireat Principles for which this 
church stands : 

(i). The first is an educated ministry. Not that a Universi- 
ty education is an essential qualification for the ministerial office. 
We remember that the Apostles were spoken of as ignorant and 
unlearned men ; we know that many of the most useful laborers 
in the Lord's vineyard to-day have never breathed the college at- 
mosphere. It may even be in some cases that fervor varies in- 
versely as culture. But this church has held from the beginning 
that those who were to be instructors in Biblical truth, and lead- 
ers in Christian thought, would be best fitted for their high office 
by the most thorough education possible. This position has been 
questioned at times by a small minority of church-members; per- 
haps most vigorously in 1739 by one Wm. Borden, who was a 
thorn in the side of Rev. Jonathan Parsons. He declared, — and, 
when summoned before the church meeting, justified the declara- 
tion, " That those ministers who take money by a tax laid upon 
the people for preaching the Cospel and expect to get their living 
thereby, are unjust men, or do wickedly therein; and they are 
the blind guides spoken of by the prophet, under the character 
of greedy dogs that never have enough, such as seek for their 
gain from their quarter, &c. ; and those churches and Christian so- 
cieties w^ickedly contradict the will of Jesus Christ in choosing out 
young men of a College education, rather than some of the aged 
and experienced bretl ren from among themselves, to execute the 



ministerial office among them." But the churcli refused to fol- 
low the lead of Wm. Borden. They have preferred to tax them- 
selves for the support of their pastor, that he might give himself 
wholly to the work of the ministry — rather than that he should 
support himself by manual labor during the week, and daub with 
untempered mortar on the Sabbath day. And they have persist- 
ed in preferring College graduates for the pastorate. Of the 
eleven pastors in these 200 years only one has lacked a collegiate 
education. The first pastor was obliged to graduate from Har- 
vard, as Yale was not yet in existence. But during his pastorate 
he assisted in remedying this defect, and in launching Yale Col- 
lege upon its illustrious career. One other pastor. Rev. Lathrop 
Rockwell, chose to be graduated from Dartmouth College in 
1789 — for some unknown reason ; but the remaining eight pastors 
have been graduates of Yale. 

(2). A second principle for which this church stands is a Re- 
generate church-membership. It would discover, in those who 
seek its communion, not only correct outward deportment, but 
genuine inward faith — a humble acceptance of God as a Father, 
Christ as a Saviour, and the Holy Spirit as a Sanctifier. It is 
not a club for ethical culture, but a Christian Church — looking 
out upon the world through the Master's eyes and aiming to 
bring all men into obedience to the Master's will. Along this 
line also there has been discussion and conflict. Nearly all the 
churches of New England were agitated for a long period by va- 
rying views as to the Half-way Covenant. The motive of this 
movement, which had begun before the settlement of this town, 
was, in a word, to open the way for the holding of civic ofifice, 
and for the baptism of children, and sometimes for the partaking 
of the communion, to those whose lack of church-membership 
had shut them out from these privileges. The effect was to 
weigh down the church-life and deaden its spirituality by a mass 
of semi-members, who came in many cases to outnumber the full 
members, and to give the church a worldly, unspiritual character. 
The final outcome — largely through the preaching of Edwards, 
and the Great Awakening of 1740 — partly also through the ex- 
tension of the right of suffrage, was the lopping off of this unscrip- 
tural and unsatisfactory fungus. 

The discussions of this matter are often elaborate and fine- 



13 

drawn, and expressed in so technical terms as to puzzle the very 
elect. This church adopted a so-called " Appendix to the Be- 
lief" which was a form of Half-waj- Covenant, July 23, 1787. 
But this appears to have been a dying groan of the perishing pol- 
ic)- ; for five years later the Confession and Covenant are repeat- 
ed, but the "Appendix" no more appears. 

This "Appendix" reads at follows: 

"And you do moreover believe that in your Baptism, which is 
the seal of the Gospel Covenant, you are laid under solemn Cov- 
enant engagements to be the Lord's, and you do appear before 
God and this people this day publickly to own and renew your 
covenant engagements to be His forever; and accordingly you do 
now, in the presence of God and His people, solemnly avouch 
the living God, — Father, Son and Holy Cihost, to be your Father, 
Savior and Sanctifier, and take Him to be your portion forever: 
and on these terms you desire admission to the privileges of Bap- 
tism and the watch of the church; and as you thus do, you also 
engage to seek diligently in the ways of Divine appointments: to 
get the difficulties removed out of your mind which hinder your 
offering yourself to communion in the holy and solemn ordinance 
of the Lord's Supper: — thus you promise, believe and engage. I 
do then declare you admitted to the privileges desired, according 
to your desire." 

(3). The third great principle for which this church stands is 
that the church should be a leader of the community in morality 
and philanthropy; that it should hold up before the community, 
in doctrine and life, a high standard of Christian character. The 
church is always in danger of being submerged in the world, both 
through defects in its own membership and through insidious in- 
fluences that operate from without. But this church has always 
held that whatever in its life is inconsistent with the purest mo- 
rality and the truest philanthropy is in the nature of an unhealthy 
excrescence, to be cured by the surgeon's knife, or, if possible, by 
a more gentle healing process. As our Church Records now 
stand — beginning with the ministry of Mr. Parsons, the earlier 
records being lost — they start out with a long list of confessions; 
the sins most numerou.sly confessed are intemperance, unchastity, 
and various forms of evil speaking; it was felt then — it is felt 
now — that those who are guilty of such sins are sick patients in 



14 

the hospital, and not representative soldiers in the army. The 
church is ready to take some risk to its reputation, and to labor 
patiently and lovingly for the reclamation of wanderers; but the 
only standard by which it can measure genuine Christian charac- 
ter is the lofty standard set by the teachings and the life of the 
Master Himself. 

(4). And, finally, this church has come to stand squarely by the 
Two Foci of the Congregational Ellipse — the Two Principles 
of Local Independence and Fraternal Fellowship; each church 
independent of all human authority, and directly responsible to 
the living Christ, the great Head of the Church ; and all Chris- 
tian churches under obligation to dwell together in mutual chari- 
ty and helpfulness. This church has apparently never had much 
occasion to discuss the question of fraternal fellowship; it has al- 
ways been wont to consult sister churches in time of need and to 
give or receive counsel and aid as occasion demanded. But it is 
a somewhat long and tortuous road by which this church has 
come to a firm and solid position in the matter of Local Inde- 
pendence. Its first pastor, as already noted, was a delegate to 
Saybrook, and his brother was moderator of the body which 
adopted the Saybrook Platform of 1708. This Platform brought 
each church under the control of the Consociation of churches. 
A church was not at liberty to select its council, and look upon 
the result of the council as advice^ to be followed or not accord- 
ing to its own judgment; but it must accept the Consociation as 
a kind of standing Council, and accept its conclusions as binding 
decrees. The attitude of this church toward the Saybrook Plat- 
form has wavered and varied. As early as Dec. 17, 1744 — under 
Mr. Parsons — it was expressly voted "That this church suppose 
they are not, and that they never were, settled upon or agreeable 
to, the articles or church Discipline drawn up at Saybrook, A. D. 
1708; and that this church do dislike and renounce said Platform 
or Articles of Church Discipline as a rule for the discipline of 
this church. 'Twas also voted at said meeting "that it is the 
present opinion of this church, that each particular church, with 
its own proper officers — duly qualified according to Gospel order — 
has full power and authority from Jesus Christ, the Great Head 
of the Church, for the exercising of Church discipline and enjoy- 
ing all the ordinances of the Gospel within itself," <S:c. 



15 

]]ut on the 6th March, 1S13, uncler Rev. I.athrop Rockwell, it 
was voted "That this church adopt the ' Confesson of Faith' 
and 'Articles of Church Discipline,' formed at Saybrook in the 
year 1708 as the rule for the administration of church discipline." 

So for a century the practice of the church wavered and varied. 
Sometimes the summons of the Consociation to a Council was re- 
jected, while the invitation of an individual church was accepted. 
But on the 24th Sept., 1872, the Middlesex Conference was or- 
ganized, and the Consociation has since fallen into disuse. And 
this church recognizes no responsibility to Consociation, Presby- 
tery or Bishop, but only to the Great Head of the Church, while 
walking in loving fellowship with all sister churches. 

It remains only to add a brief statement as an appendix to Mr. 
Cary's account of the four meeting-houses, in order to bring the 
record down to date. 

As already stated, the present edifice was completed and dedi- 
cated in 181 7. The corner-stone was laid in June, t8i6, with 
the following order of service : 

ORDER OF THE CEREMONY TO BE USED AT THE 

LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF THE MEETINO-HorSE 

OF THE FIRST SOCIETY OF LYME, 

JUNE, A. D. 1816. 



I. The congregation and others to assemble at Mrs. Parson's Inn at 1 

o'clock P. M. and a procession to be formed by the Marshal in the 
following order, viz : 

II. 1. Young men to form in front l)y pairs. 

2. Young Ladies. 

3. Elderly Ladies. 

4. Elderly Men. 

5. Singers with Psalm-Books. 

6. Masons with the implements of their profession. 

7. Carpenters with do. 

8. Building Committee. 

9. Clergyman, and Deacons on each side. 

III. Procession to march up street to a proper distance, wheel and return 

back— and when the front of the same reaches the corner of the 
house to halt. 

IV. Procession then to open to the right and left, and the Marshal to 

pass through to the Clergyman, and escort him down to the cor- 
ner — the procession closing in and following in order. 

V. A circle or crescent then to be fonned around the corner— and the 

music to be posted on each side. 



i6 

V[. Middle stone then to be laid by the clergyman aided by the Masons. 

VII. Invocation by the clergyman. 

VIII. Hymn Sung. 

IX. Clergyman to read the inscription on the plate. 

X. Plate to be deposited by the Pastor in the cavity of the stone. 

XI. Upper stone to be laid on by masons, scpiared by Pastor. 

XII. Invocation. 

XIII. Hymn. 

XIV. Short address by the Pastor. 

XV. Hymn and Benediction. 

XVI. Procession to return and take a glass of cold watei\ to close the 

BALL. 

INSCRIPTION ON THE PLATE. 



Old Meeting House 

burnt by lightning, 

July 3, A. D. 1815. 

This Corner Stone laid 

WITH Religious Ceremonies 

BY THE 

REV. LATHROP ROCKWELL. 

Pastor, 
June, A. D., 1816. 

S. B. Architect. 

E. S. Mas. Mason. 

Names of the Committee on the reverse side of the plate. 
From Oct. 1850 to April 185 1 the church was undergoing re- 
pairs; and at the re-opening, the Pastor, Rev. D. S. Brainerd — 
whose benediction still rests upon the church and the town — 
preached from Isaiah LVI : 7. " Mine house shall be called a house 
of prayer for all people." At this time also a change was intro- 
duced in the musical part of the service. Not infrequently such 
a change is accompanied by a storm. In the First Church at 
Hartford,* e. g., when it was proposed to give up the Bay Psalm 
Book, which had no musical notes, and to substitute singing by 
note for singing by ear or what not, great opposition was encoun- 
tered ; and many other congregations almost split on the ques- 
tion. "The innovation was denounced as an insult to the mem- 
ory of the fathers, and as tending to Papacy. ' If we once begin 
to sing by note, the next thing will be to pray by rule, and then 
comes Popery. ' The interposition of the General Court was in 
some instances necessary to quiet disturbances arising from the 
proposal to sing by rule. " 

*" Anniversary nf the F"irst Church, Hartford," p. 75. 



P)Ut no such stonn was raised in this church by the proposition 
to substitute, for the pitch pipe and the bass-viol of the fathers, a 
modern church organ. Says Mr. Chas. H. (Iriswold to Mr. Wm. 
Banning — " If you'll get an organ I'll play it for nothing." Mr. 
Banning accepted the challenge, and the thing was done. And 
as Mr. Brainerd joyfully records in the church book under date 
of Oct. 1851: "An organ was set up in the house of (jod, and 
on the Sabbath of the 26th of this month the congregation, for 
the first time, enjoyed the pleasure of its music." 

In 1886 the time seemed to have come for a more thorough re- 
pairing and remodeling of the church edifice, and on the 12th 
Sept. of that year the Pastor, Rev. B. VV. Bacon, preached a ser- 
mon summoning the people to the task. The response was so 
prompt and so generous that in just a year and a day from the 
delivery of the sermon, viz. Sept. 13, 1887, the church was re- 
opened and rededicated with a very beautiful and impressive ser- 
vice. The changes which had been made awakened feelings of 
satisfaction and delight. Into the substantial architecture of the 
old church had been transfused a delicate new sjiirit, whit;h had 
remodeled without disfigurement and adorned without discord. 
The so-called "nigger pews" — those triangular boxes in the re- 
mote corners of the gallery, which had been built for negro slaves, 
and had later been the favorite resort of the boys — these had dis- 
appeared from the one end of the church, while at the other end 
had been added this rich apse; the floor had been let down to a 
lower level, and everywhere the improving touches of a firm and 
skillful hand appeared. In all, the sum of $5,504.38 had been 
expended in putting the church into the beautiful condition in 
which you see it to-day. To crown all, a new organ was present- 
ed to the church by Mrs. C. C. Griswold, and a new set of pulpit- 
furniture by Mr. C. H. Ludington. 

We can wish for the future of this church no better fortune 
than that the lives of its members may be as beautiful in the sight 
of (iod as is this building in the sight of men. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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